Page 24 of Fractured Memories

“Are you hit? Are you hurt?” He shifted the sweatyhair away from her face with urgency, his gaze sweeping across her body, panic threaded in his voice. “Tell me.”

“I’m okay.” She sucked in a breath, holding on to his solid form. Her heart beat against her rib cage so violently, Felicity feared it might seize. She took a few precious seconds to suck in another breath and hold it before releasing the air slowly to ease her rapid pulse. “I’m okay.”

Noah pulled her against him in a tighter embrace. Her head ached from the impact with her attacker. She sagged against him, breathing in the soothing scent of his cologne. The blood on her hands transferred to his shirt, sending a shock wave through her system.

Melanie.

The injured woman must be frightened out of her mind. Possibly in shock. Felicity pushed away from Noah, turning toward the bookcase. “We have to help Melanie.”

The carpet was stained with blood, Felicity’s gun tucked up against the edge of a row of books where it must’ve slid somehow in the confusion. Brooke’s best friend, however, was gone.

Felicity’s gaze traveled around the room, panic rising as the sound of the other woman’s screams echoed like a bad dream in her mind. “Where’s Melanie?” Her boots crunched glass as she took several steps toward the last place she’d seen the woman. Trembles shook her body despite the warm sunshine pouring over her skin.

Noah gently grabbed her arms, drawing her attentionto him. His hair was mussed and a scrape traveled the length of his powerful jaw. Approaching sirens wailed in the distance.

“They took her, Fee. Melanie’s been kidnapped.”

SEVENTEEN

Two hours later, the bullpen was buzzing with activity as Knoxville police joined forces with the sheriff’s department and the Texas Rangers to investigate the attack at the bank. Noah carried a first aid kit into the break room, kicking the door closed behind him to block out the noise. His head was pounding. Some over-the-counter painkillers would help, but he needed to make sure Felicity was taken care of first. The stubborn woman had refused to go to the hospital.

She was seated at a table. A half-filled bottle of water rested in front of her, along with an unopened bag of crackers. Her hair was damp from a recent shower in the locker room, the faint freckles dancing across her nose visible without makeup, and her shoulders curved inward. Still, she offered a small smile at the sight of him. The curve of those lips, the way she tried to push through the worry and pain clouding her gaze, gut-punched him.Felicity had no trouble reaching right inside his chest and grabbing hold of his heart.

“Finished giving your statement?” she asked.

“Yep.” They’d been separated per protocol and provided their statements to investigating officers. Noah set the first aid kit on the table and reached for Felicity’s wrist. He gently tugged her out of the chair into a standing position. Then he embraced her.

She sighed, nuzzling her face into the crook of his neck. His pulse settled. He brushed a kiss across the ridge of her hairline and breathed in the scent of her strawberry shampoo. She was here. She was alive. Noah didn’t want to think about the terrifying moments during the shooting. Or the horror of rushing back into Melanie’s office to find Felicity fighting for her life with a man twice her size. He’d nearly lost her today. More than once.

Felicity raised her face and then pushed to her tiptoes to kiss him. The moment their lips met, time stopped. Noah deepened the kiss, his heart saying what his mind couldn’t fathom. He was falling in love with her and had been for a long time. Every threat drew attention to the depth of his feelings. There was no escaping it. No denying it.

And it terrified him right to the core.

Felicity had the ability to crush him. Losing her… would he survive it? He’d already been through so much pain, and now there was Harper to consider. Noah couldn’t fall apart. He was a dad now. He’d pieced himself back together after Sally’s death, but these feelings for Felicity had him balancing on a razor’s edge.

Noah pulled back, ending the kiss, but kept his forehead pressed against hers. He cupped her face in his hands. His thumbs gently ran over the silky skin along her cheeks. Her sharp inhale tempted him to kiss her again, but he resisted, instead lowering her back into the chair before opening the first aid kit. “Did you hear the news? Daniel is missing.”

“Grady told me. According to his ex-wife, Daniel is on a fishing trip, but I doubt that’s the case.” She pushed aside the unopened box of crackers. “There were two attackers in the van. If we assume Gene was one of them, then the other could’ve been Daniel.”

He nodded, ripping open an antiseptic wipe. “Hold still, this may sting.” Noah gently dabbed at the cut along Felicity’s temple. “The Rangers have sent out an alert to the local hospitals. Whoever attacked you is hurting right now after you smashed his kneecap.” His mouth twitched. “Remind me never to make you angry.”

She chuckled, and then the mirth slid from her expression. “I can’t understand why they kidnapped Melanie. Is it because of what she knows about Daniel? Or is there more to it than that?”

“I don’t know.” Noah handed her a couple of over-the-counter pain meds and then took some for himself. He dry swallowed them. “Jax, Grady, and Tucker are in the conference room coordinating what we know so far. Let’s go see what they’ve come up with.”

Felicity took her own meds with a gulp of water. They stepped out of the break room into the chaos of the bull pen.

Judge Kurtis Ferguson was weaving his way through the desks behind an officer. His gaze landed on Felicity and an instant rage mottled his skin. He bolted for her on long strides. “You did this!”

Every head in the place turned toward them. Several officers rose from their chairs. Noah stepped in front of Felicity and placed a hand out to stop the judge. “Hold on there, sir.”

“No, I won’t.” Kurtis drew to a halt. “How dare you!” He tried to peer around Noah to capture Felicity in his irate stare. His eyes were bloodshot, and it appeared he’d been crying from the ruddiness of his skin. “If you hadn’t reopened Brooke’s case, my wife would be at home with me right now. Instead, she’s in the hands of criminals. Shot and bleeding out and—” His voice hitched as grief twisted his features. “Do you know what Triple 6 will do to her? Do you understand how many of them I’ve sent to prison?”

Sympathy softened Noah’s tone. He understood Kurtis’s heartache, but Melanie’s kidnapping was not Felicity’s fault and he wouldn’t allow the judge to cast blame on her. “We’re going to do everything in our power to bring Mrs. Ferguson home, sir.”

Kurtis never shifted his gaze to Noah. He jutted a finger at Felicity. Spittle flew from the corner of his lips, and his hair was mussed and wild. “She’s probably dead already!”

“Enough.” Chief Garcia’s booming command flew across the bullpen. He marched forward, his authoritative strides eating up the distance with ease, and thendrew to a stop in front of Kurtis. “Judge Ferguson, if the men who kidnapped Melanie wanted her dead, they would’ve simply shot her. They have another agenda and we’re working hard to uncover what that is. I’ve got law enforcement from three different agencies searching for your wife. We are doing everything humanly possible to find her, but we need your help.” He gestured toward his office. “Come with me, sir.”

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